Iran on Sunday said it would take "reciprocal" measures after the European Parliament voted to blacklist the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group.
Members of the European Parliament voted on Wednesday to include the Guards on the 27-nation bloc's terrorism list in "light of its terrorist activity, the repression of protesters and its supplying of drones to Russia." The vote is non-binding but comes with EU foreign ministers already due to discuss tightening sanctions on Iran next week.
Condemning the move by the EU Parliament, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said that the legislature will declare the armies of the European states as terrorist groups should the EU endorse the resolution against the IRGC.
"Now we all see that Europe intends to confront the IRGC as the strongest anti-terrorism force in the region and the world and the most important guardian of the security of the Iranian nation," the lawmaker was quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying. "These are not cases that we easily ignore and we will use the best of our ability for any countermeasures and deterrents."
"We will identify the armies of the European countries in the region as terrorist groups and organizations and take the necessary measures to deal with them," the speaker said, echoed by Iran's top diplomat who confirmed that "the parliament is working to place elements of European countries' armies on the terrorist list" of the Islamic Republic.
